Wolfing Out
by sol invictus
Summary: Cody is bitten by a dog and Zack tries to convince him that he's turning into a werewolf until Cody turns the tables on him.


"Stupid dog," Cody muttered to himself as he watched the large dog skitter away from him and down the street. He reached down and picked up a small rock and tossed it after the mongrel. Once he was sure it was gone, he looked down at his left hand and saw the bite. It was small, barely bleeding, nothing more than a nip, but it was there. He rubbed it with his thumb and smeared the small bead of blood away. "Stupid dog!" he said again, louder and angrier this time.

He started walking again and rounded the last corner and onto the Tipton's street. Cody heard his mother's voice in his head telling him not to touch, pet, or approach any stray dog. In his mind's eye she was standing by the dinner table with her hands on her hips and giving him The Look. The one she usually reserved for Zack when he did something and lied about it and had already been given just enough rope to hang himself.

Well, to be honest, he hadn't approached the thing. It had been following him for the last two blocks and slowly catching up with him with each step. It had nosed him in the butt and he gave in and stopped to rub its muzzle since it seemed friendly. _What if it has rabies? _Cody groaned as that crossed his mind. "That's just great. I'll have to go to the doctor now." He stuck his hands in the pockets of his windbreaker and hurried home, remembering that washing the bite as quickly as possible was important.

He did wash it. Twice, actually. As soon as Carey found out she was by his side and making sure he scrubbed and scrubbed until the soap ran off and then made him get another squirt. And then do it again. And cover the bite with at least a gallon of antibacterial cream before they bandaged it up. He had expected the ride to the hospital to be full of her talking down to him about being fooling enough to let a stray dog bite him but he was wrong. Carey had only said the usual _I told you so _and _that's why you don't mess with stray animals _and let the subject drop after she'd got those out. Much better than he'd been waiting for.

He kept messing with the bandage the entire time they sat in the green chairs in the emergency room's lobby. He almost wished Zack was there to distract him with some mindless banter but no, no Zack. Cody would read a page or two from one of the odd assortment of hopelessly outdated and dog-eared magazines and then put it aside to pull on the tape or rub at the cotton gauze again. After Carey would look at him and shake her head, he'd pick another magazine up and repeat the process.

He had just put aside a May issue of Sports Illustrated and was picking at it when Carey, finally fed up, rolled up the magazine she was reading and lightly rapped him over the head with it. "Bad dog," she said with a grin. "Just cool your jets, kid. It won't be much longer." Barely thirty seconds later, a heavy-set nurse stuck her head through the window and called his name. "See? I told you so. Now come on." She put her arm around his shoulders and walked with him into the room.

"So do we have to put you down, Cody?" Zack asked when he returned to the suite a short while after Cody did. Carey was downstairs discussing that evening's performance with Moseby so Cody had to face the inevitable taunts by himself. "You know, like they did in Ol' Yeller?" He smirked playfully at Cody while pumping and aiming an imaginary shotgun.

"No, unfortunately you don't. I don't have rabies." He rolled his eyes at his brother and started to turn the tables. "At least they don't think I do. They gave me a shot though, just in case. And I have to go back and get another in a few days and a third next week," he said as he started to roll up his sleeve. "You should have seen the size of the needle, Zack. It was at least six inches long. They stuck me here and the nurse kept pushing it until there was maybe an inch left outside my skin." Cody took guilty pleasure in seeing his brother cringe at the mere idea of a needle and went for the kill as he showed Zack the welt from the injection.

Zack pushed him away and turned his head. "Gross. Just gross. I don't want to see that." Zack plopped back on the couch while Cody went to get himself a snack. "You know," he called to Cody while he flipped channels, "they could have given you an anti-nerd shot while you were there."

"They were fresh out of those," Cody called back. "I tried to get them to give me something to make you less obnoxious but the doctor said the only thing that would work were horse tranquilizers and they won't write a prescription for those to an eleven year old."

Not to be outdone, Zack continued. "Did they at least give you an anti-werewolf shot?"

"What? That's the dumbest thing I've ever heard, Zack. Besides, it wasn't a wolf that bit me. It was a really big dog."

"Not to be mean here, bro, but you aren't exactly an expert on animals," Zack told him as he turned around on the couch to look at his brother. "You wouldn't know a wolf from a dog if it came up and bit you." He paused and smiled. "Oh wait, it did!"

"Oh that's so funny, Zack. Ha ha ha. I think I'm about to bust a gut laughing." Cody let the sarcasm drip from his words.

"I thought so. Just let me know if you suddenly get the urge for a rare steak, okay, buddy? I'll spend the night somewhere else."

"Zack, I am not, and I repeat, am _not _going to turn into a werewolf. Got it?"

"You never know, Cody. You might be. We'll just have to wait for the next full moon to find out for sure."

"Just shut up," Cody said as he watched Zack get up and go to the calendar and run a finger across the days.

"Oh, what great timing! The next full moon is the day before Halloween. Three days from now. How perfect is that? Now I guess you won't have to put on that ballerina costume after all."

"You're right, Zack. You can wear it instead. I think the tutu would look better on you, anyway."

"Three days, bro. Three days."

_Three days indeed, _Cody thought as he glowered at his brother's smile.

The late afternoon passed seamlessly into early evening and Carey presented them with a remarkably edible meal for dinner before she headed off downstairs for her show. Zack sat across the table from his brother and kept looking up at him every time he took a bite.

"Okay, what are you staring at, Zack?"

"I'm seeing if your teeth have started growing yet. I think I read somewhere that that's one of the first signs."

"Oh whatever. I'm not turning into a stupid werewolf."

"Really? I noticed that Mom didn't make us steak tonight. You think maybe she's a little worried about you wolfing out on us? Steak now, a little filet of Zack while I'm sleeping, and some Mom a la mode for dessert?"

Cody sighed and stabbed a piece of broccoli.

"Turn your head to the side, Cody." Zack said a minute later.

"Why?"

"Just do it for me. Real quick."

"Fine." Cody did and Zack's eyes went wide. "What?"

"You're getting whiskers. I saw them when the light caught them."

"You are so full of it. I don't have any...oh. Wow. So I do," Cody said with great surprise as he ran his fingertips across his cheek and felt the soft hairs he hadn't known existed. He felt a little bit of pride. "That doesn't mean anything, you know. It's just puberty."

"Yeah...kind of a coincidence that it finally starts to show up now, isn't it? I haven't noticed them before."

"You stare at my cheeks and look for hair a lot, huh?"

"Well, no, but I think I'd notice if my own brother had something I didn't."

"You're just jealous," Cody said as he plucked one and examined it. "And it's blond. That's why neither of us noticed it before. Blond and very fine."

"So you'll be an albino werewolf."

"There is no such _thing_, Zack!"

"I guess you're the werewolf expert around here now so you'd know. Since you are one and all."

"Oh for crying out loud. I'm going to eat in our room." Cody stood up and snatched his plate from the table and stormed off to their room. Zack willed himself to hold it together until Cody slammed the door. _Slam! _Zack's stoic face almost instantly dissolved into giggles and then full-fledged brays of silent laughter.

Once he got himself under control, an idea popped into his head and it was far too good to let go. He stuffed his mouth with one last large bite of pasta and started digging in his pockets for his phone. He chewed while he fished it out and started texting his friend Sam. _Hey man, this is going to sound reaaaaally weird but will you brush your dog and bring the hair to school tomorrow? I'll owe you one. _He hit send and sat back on the couch while waiting for the answer.

_Um...sure? Do I even want to know? _came back in less than a minute later.

_I'll fill you in at school tomorrow, _Zack replied and set his phone on the arm of the couch and grinned to himself while he channel surfed.

2

The dog had bitten him nearly a full day ago now an so far he hadn't started his transformation into a werewolf. Not that he was expecting to, of course. Cody had taken plenty of ribbing from his brother last night and the few hours they'd been home from school and it was starting to wear on him. Zack had just made another joke at his expense while they were doing their homework and Cody snarled at him.

"See? You are turning into one!"

"What are you talking about now, Zack?" Cody was incredibly unamused.

"You just growled at me."

"No I didn't."

"Yeah, you did. I heard it plain as day." Zack scooted away from him to the other end of the couch. "Just in case you decide to lunge at me," he told his brother as he stacked two pillows between them.

"Oh whatever. Just do your math."

Cody was supremely happy to go to bed that night since it meant that Zack wouldn't be able to make any werewolf comments for at least seven hours, maybe eight if he slept late. He sighed as he turned off the light. "Good night, Zack," he said.

"Good night, Pre-Teen Wolf," Zack replied and chuckled. Cody rolled his eyes and pulled up the covers, not dignifying Zack's comment with a response. He laid there in his pajama pants and snug wifebeater under his covers and waited for sleep to take him, hoping he'd go under before Zack started his usual round of snoring. Hoping that all Zack's stupid werewolf talk wouldn't give him stupid werewolf dreams. If the did he was going to have to punch Zack or something. He yawned and stretched and shifted and tried to think of anything that wasn't lupine.

Zack was laying in the other bed and doing everything he possibly could to keep himself awake. He was tired as crap and had to resort to pinching himself and biting the tip of his tongue to keep from falling asleep until after Cody did. He watched his brother with one heavy-lidded eye as Cody did the toss and turn and blanket rearranging that he always did just before nodding off.

"Finally," Zack said a few minutes later when Cody had fallen still. He sat up in bed and pulled his nightstand's drawer open as quietly as he could and took a plastic bag from it. Zack studied the dog brush and dirt clod and couldn't help it as a grin spread across his face. He waited a few extra minutes, good insurance as he saw it, before making his move.

He crept out of bed and tiptoed to Cody's side, placing the bag on the floor beside him. He opened it and took the brush out and made a face as he pulled a giant chunk of hair from it. Zack pulled smaller clumps from it and began placing them on Cody's bed and clothes. He had to stop at one point when he felt manic laughter closing in on him. He leaned back and buried his mouth in the crook of his elbow until the feeling passed.

Job one done, Zack picked up the dirt clod in one hand and Cody's limp wrist in the other. He carefully rubbed the earth across the fingertips, making sure to get a little under each nail. He repeated the motions with Cody's other hand before drawing random muddy streaks on his brother's arms. He pulled the comforter and blankets from Cody's feet and did the same on his lower legs and toes.

"Perfect," Zack whispered as he surveyed his handiwork. "Just perfect." He was about to cover his brother back up when an idea of how to make it even _better _hit him like a hammer. "No, that'll be perfect." Zack stood up and left the room, hoping the scissors were where he remembered seeing them. Two steps into the kitchen and he pulled the drawer open and there they were.

_Gotta be careful here, _Zack thought as he stood over his brother with the scissors. _This would be an incredibly terrible time for him to wake up._ Zack leaned as close as he dared and began making jagged cuts in his brother's shirt. He cut from just below the armpit sleeve to the bottom of Cody's ribs on one side and almost as far again on the other and all over his sleeping brother's chest. When he was finished, it looked like Cody had gone three rounds with Cat Woman. Or had transformed into a werewolf and nearly ripped his shirt to pieces. Either or. Zack smiled and covered Cody up for the night and snuck back to his bed. He hid his supplies and laid down a very happy boy.

In his dream, Cody was packing through a field and letting his nose set his direction. It was night but the light from the moon lit the meadow. Not that he needed it. He could see just fine. He sniffed. _It's close. Real close. _Cody took off after a hint of movement caught his eye, feeling his claws as they dug into the chilly ground for purchase. A rabbit, he saw as he chased it. It was heading for a line of tree that bordered the freshly harvested field and Cody vowed to bring it down before it got there. It was going to be close. Cody lunged and let loose an inhuman roar...

"Aaaah!" Cody sat straight up in bed and yanked the covers up to his chin. He took a deep breath and felt his heart pounding away at a thousand miles an hour. As he slowly calmed down, he looked around and didn't see an open field or trees anywhere in his room. He exhaled.

"Cody?" A groggy voice said from across the room. "You okay? You didn't oversleep. It's Saturday." Cody looked over to Zack's bed and saw a half-opened eye staring at him from beneath a tangle of blankets. Zack pulled them down a bit and raised his head. "Cody?"

"Yeah, I'm okay," he said, feeling better as reality set in and the dream slipped away.

"Bad dream?" Zack was honestly concerned. Being awoken from a sound sleep had robbed him of memories of his activities from a few hours ago.

"Oh yeah." Cody shivered as fragments of the dream passed into his mind's eye again. He saw himself leaping on the rabbit and felt his stomach do a back flip

"Wanna talk about it?"

"I...really don't remember it anymore," he lied. He still remembered every terrifyingly awful bit of it. He could still feel the sandy dirt between his nails as he rubbed his fingers against his palms.

"Right then. I'm going back to sleep since it's Saturday. Maybe I mentioned that?" Zack said as Cody realized he really could feel his dirty nails. Even his palms felt gritty. He looked down and saw the dirt under them and threw himself out of bed with a _Whaaaaaaa! _when he saw long hairs in his sheets.

Zack, fully awake now and reminded of what he did when he saw Cody's shirt, did his best not to laugh as his brother freaked out. He was biting incredibly hard on a knuckle and doing his best not to breathe.

In his convulsive leap, Cody had somehow managed to get the fingers of one hand stuck in a rip in his 'beater and looked down questioningly. "Mom!" he cried out, stretching a single syllable into five long seconds. "Mom!"

"What is it?" Carey said when she burst the door open a few seconds later and barged in, robe tails flying in her wake and her sleep mask pushed up on her head like sunglasses. "What's the matter, Cody?" She looked over him and what she saw was so odd that her brain discounted it immediately.

"I'm...I'm a werewolf!" he cried in anguish, showing her his dirty hands, just before he fell back on his bed and passed out.

They both watched Cody in silence for a short while, Carey wondering exactly what in the blue hell had just happened and Zack basking in the glory of his best idea ever going absolutely, completely, and perfectly according to plan.

"I'm probably going to ground you at least seven years for that. You know this, right?"

"Yeah, Mom, I know. But it was worth it."

3

Carey looked up from her magazine when Cody stomped out of the bathroom in his robe. He'd awoken and was absolutely _furious_ with Zack for the prank he'd pulled on him and Carey thought for a few seconds that her usually quiet son had snapped. She just happened to be in the perfect spot, two steps from the kitchen and three from the table, to snag an arm around his skinny waist and yank him back when he lunged at Zack. Zack pushed his chair back in a flash but overbalanced and went sprawling on his back, one foot clipping the table and sending his plate of toast into the air.

Carey put her other arm around Cody's waist as he began swearing, in _French, _she noticed with a hint of a smile, while trying to wiggle his way out of her grasp. Zack backed up on his hands and heels until he'd cornered himself against the door.

"Zack, I think this might be a good time for you to grab your shoes and make yourself scarce for a while," she told him as she continued son-wrangling. "I don't care where, just go there." Zack nodded fiercely and all but jumped out the door with his Nikes under one arm.

Carey relaxed her hold on Cody after the door closed but didn't let him go just in case he charged out the door after his brother. When she felt his heartbeat begin to slow and his breathing return to normal she released him. "You're okay now, right?"

"Yes," Cody rasped. A hitch in his breath startled him.

"Good. Now let's go have a seat on the couch and talk." She led him over and he plunked himself down. Carey chose the much more graceful option and sat gently. She crossed one leg and looked at him.

"You're going to tell me that you're going to ground Zack, right? Then after that you'll promise me that he'll never do something like that again. And after _that _you're going to-"

"Okay," Carey interrupted, "it seems we've already had this talk before."

"Dozens of times," Cody told her as he crossed his arms over his thin chest. Carey put on her best poker face and didn't grin in the slightest when she noticed his ripped shirt. An idea popped into her head and she allowed the grin to show.

"Okay, let's try a new script," she said as she leaned forward conspiratorially. "You want to get him back?"

"Mom, I want that more than anything else in the _world_."

"Good. Here's what we're going to do."

4

Zack returned to the suite a few hours later and poked his head in the door to check the scene. He saw his mother unloading the dishwasher and his brother cross-legged on the couch with a book in his lap. He took one step in and then another when no one blew up on him. "So um...hi guys," he said as he shut the door. "Everyone doing okay?" he asked nervously as he toed his shoes off.

"Hey, Zack," Cody answered without looking up from his book.

"Hi, honey."

"I really don't want to know the answer to this but I'm going to ask anyway. How long am I grounded for?"

"Zack, I really haven't had time to think about that yet," she told him just as Cody dropped a hand under his book and into his lap. His thumb found the button on his phone and pressed it. The phone next to Carey rang seconds later and he ended his surreptitious call. "Hang on, let me get this and we'll talk about what I'm going to do to you."

Zack took that as a sign to grab a snack and disappear into the living room. He sat in a chair out of Cody's striking range and tried to think of a good way to apologize to his brother.

"Oh, hello, Doctor," Carey paused for a fraction of a second for a name, "Zhivago. I didn't think we were do back in for another few days." Carey stopped talking and pretended to listen and tried to ignore Cody's rolled eyes at her choice of names. _Doctor Zhivago indeed_. "Oh. Oh. Is that serious?" Cody hid a smile. His mom might be a singer but she wasn't an actress. "You've never seen test results like that in how long? Well of course I'll bring him in on Monday. Thank you, Doctor." Carey clicked the phone off and set it back on its base.

Cody had been feigning disinterest during the fake conversation, trying to seem like he was listening while looking like he wasn't. A quick glance over at Zack told him that he'd been doing the same thing. He gave Cody a questioning look. "Are you okay?" he whispered.

"I don't know. Maybe not," Cody whispered back.

"Who was that, Mom?" Zack asked when she walked into the room.

Carey put her hands on the back of the couch and looked at each of her sons before she said anything. "That was your doctor, Cody. He said he was calling because he had some concerns over your test results."

Cody craned his neck to look at her. "What's that mean? Do I have rabies after all?"

"No, no," she told him with a reassuring hand on his shoulder, "the dog, or at least they're guessing it was a dog, wasn't rabid." She looked out of the corner of her eyes and saw Zack's face widen in surprise.

"So why do I have to go in early?"

"He said it probably wasn't anything major but there were some, what did he call them? Anomalies, I think, with your results. He said he hasn't seen anything like them in almost forty years. He wants us to come back so he can run a few additional tests. There was something he was going to test for but I can't remember the word. It was weird. Ly...lycan-something. Some Latin word."

"Lycanthropy?" Cody blurted out and decided that this acting stuff wasn't hard at all. Zack was buying it hook, line, and sinker.

"Yeah, that's it. You know it?"

"I do," he said solemnly. "It means he wants to be sure I'm not actually turning into a werewolf. And it's Greek, not Latin." If Zack's mouth could open a fraction of an inch wider, Cody could fit his fist in there. He put his head in his hands to hide an eye roll.

"Oh my," Carey said dramatically.

5

Ostensibly, Carey had left the boys alone while she went downstairs to talk to her producer about possibly needing time off. In reality, she had gone shopping and was now sitting across the street in a small bistro enjoying a lovely lunch while she gave Cody time to work his magic on his brother. It almost wasn't fair. Zack was clever but Cody was smart. And _devious_ when he put his mind to it. She absently wished she'd thought to set a recorder up to catch everything that was said while she was gone. Oh well. She sipped her coffee and waited.

"You don't think it's really possible, do you, Cody?" Zack asked once the weight of the announcement had settled on him. "You can't really turn into a werewolf. Can you?"

"I don't know, Zack. I want to say no but I can't for certain."

"But people made up werewolves."

"Technically, yes. I think they came from an old European folk tale from the middle ages. But, like quite a few old tales that keep getting passed on, they often have a grain of truth to them."

"So they're _real_?"

"I don't know any more about it than you do, Zack. Before yesterday I'd have said that werewolves were as real as moon people but now I don't know." Cody leaned back into the cushion and let out an exaggerated sigh. "How am I going to go to school on Monday if I'm going to start eating the kids?"

"I really don't think that going to school is your biggest worry, Cody."

_Well no durr _Cody thought as he shifted around on the couch. It was time to crank his acting up a notch. He put a manic look on his face and opened his eyes wide. "Zack, promise me something. Promise me that if I do wolf out that you won't let Mom shoot me."

"What?"

"If the doctor is right and I do turn, I want you to promise me that you won't let Mom shoot me."

"I will. I promise. Can I shoot you?"

"What? No you can't shoot me!" Cody had to work hard to not laugh.

"What if you're trying to eat us?"

"Well...I guess that's different. You can shoot me then. I'd prefer it if you'd just lock me in a closet until I turned back, though."

"Um, Cody? Maybe you don't know this but werewolves are pretty strong. One could probably rip a door right off its hinges."

"Have you seen me recently, Zack? I could get ten times as strong when I wolf out and I still couldn't tear a door off." He showed Zack his skinny arms. "I'll be the worst werewolf ever." Okay, that might have been pushing it a bit. Better dial it back a notch.

"Just calm down, Cody. We don't even know if you are one yet." Zack was trying to be the cool and collected twin for a change.

"You're right. But we'll know tomorrow for sure, right? Isn't that when you said the full moon was?" Cody could see the steadiness Zack was trying to hard to exude begin to slip away.

"Yeah, tomorrow night."

"How does it work? Do I start changing right away when the sun goes down or do I wait until midnight?"

"Jeez, Cody. I don't know. I think it's midnight."

"It's just for one night, right?"

"I think so," Zack told him.

"I don't feel so good. I'm going to go lay down for a while." Cody got up and dejectedly walked to their room, pausing in the doorway to give a sad look back at his brother before closing the door and leaning against it. The giggles came slow at first but became a torrent almost immediately. Cody plastered one hand over his mouth to try to muffle the sound before diving onto his bed and burying his face in the pillow and letting them loose. This was almost too easy!

6

Carey returned to the room with her package after allowing herself a second cup of coffee. She was tempted with a third by the cute coffee jockey but she declined. What did they call themselves? Ballistas? Something like that. Her caffeine buzz carried her through the lobby and up the elevator. She opened the door and only saw Zack laying on the couch and actually looking pensive. "Where's your brother?"

"He's in our room. He said he wasn't feeling well and I guess he's laying down."

"I'm going to check on him." Carey set her purse on the counter and walked across the living room, the plain brown bag still under one arm.

"He's not really turning into a werewolf is he, Mom?"

"I don't know, Zack. I hope not but the doctor sounded concerned. Speaking of, we're going to do our best to not worry him about it, okay? I'm sure it has to be hard enough on him already."

"I'll try, Mom."

Carey knocked on the the boys' door lightly and called to her son. Receiving permission to enter, she stepped inside and shut the door behind her. Cody looked up at her and the smile on his face was a mile wide. "Everything going according to plan?"

"Perfectly. I think he's bought every last bit of it. I almost feel bad."

"I do too until I remember how many tricks he's pulled on you over the years."

"It's like taking candy from a baby though, Mom. He was still on the fence about Santa last year."

Carey sat down on Cody's bed and patted him on the back. "Well, it looks like we get to use the fact that he's not...he's..."

"Not the brightest crayon in the box? Sharpest tool in the shed?"

"Something like that. We can use that against him."

"Stage two starts tonight?"

"Yes it does." Carey ruffled his head and smiled. She opened the bag up and hung its contents up in the back of Cody's closet.

7

Cody was taking his time in the bathroom as he waited for Zack to come by. He knew he would since Cody being in the bathroom was almost always a magnet for Zack. He would come by and hammer on the door to make him jump or make some foul comment just because he could. So Cody waited, door open and standing before the mirror barechested, for the inevitable. He was not disappointed.

"Taking the Browns to the Super Bowl again, Cody?" he said as he stuck his head in.

"No, to do that I'd have to be sitting on the toilet."

"Then what are you doing?"

"Checking for hair," Cody told him matter-of-factly.

"Oh," Zack said, his bluster gone.

"Like you said, it was kind of odd for puberty to finally kick in on the day I got bit so I thought I should check." He lifted his arms and looked in the mirror. "Nothing under there, not a single one on my chest either. Will you check my back? I can't see it."

"Yeah, sure," Zack said as he examined his brother's shoulders and worked his way down. "I don't see any, just the usual little hairs you've always had."

"Hmm. What about the backs of my legs?" Rolling his eyes, Zack bent down to check.

"Nope. Just like mine."

"That's good news, I guess." He pulled a shirt over his head and stuck his arms in. "Of course, it might not mean anything. The hairs might not start growing everywhere until midnight. I'll walk around looking like myself all day and as soon as the moon rises, I'll look like Dad."

"Gross," Zack muttered.

Cody's stomach growled, purely a bonus as to what he was about to say, and he turned so Zack wouldn't see his smile in the mirror. "Man, I am _starving. _I hope Mom has dinner ready soon." He rubbed his belly in an attempt to assuage his fake hunger.

"I'm...I'm sure she will," Zack said as he took a step back. "She said she's making tacos tonight."

"Tacos sound delicious! I think I'll eat at least ten. Maybe a dozen. Beef tacos, right? Not chicken?"

"I guess. Hey, I'm going to go watch some tv for a little while before we eat. I'll catch you later." Zack all but jumped from the room and was gone in a flash. Cody looked at his reflection and saw a huge smile spreading across his face.

"Too easy," he said as he closed the door for a bit of privacy as he dressed.

A short while later the boys were seated at the table and Zack watched with astonishment as Cody devoured taco after taco. He was already on his fifth while Zack struggled to finish his second.

"You must have been famished, Cody," his mother told him as he wiped his mouth off after the last bite of his sixth.

"Oh I still am. I'm just taking a little break before round two."

"Yeah, you've definitely hit puberty all right," she said. "You've become a bottomless pit."

Zack looked at her with an _I can't believe you aren't freaking out about this _gaze while Cody belched. "What time is your show over tonight, Mom?"

"I should be back by about 11:30 tonight, Zack. Maybe quarter til at the latest. Why?"

"No reason," he lied. "I think I'm done. May I be excused?"

"Sure, Zack," Carey told him as he got up and disappeared to their room. Once the door was closed behind him she turned to her younger son. "You sure you really aren't turning into a werewolf, Cody? I've never seen you eat that much at one time."

"I feel like I'm going to explode," he admitted, slouching back into the chair and letting his stuffed stomach stretch his shirt tight across his belly. "I don't think I'll eat again until somewhere around April."

"I'd bet more on tomorrow but we'll see. Anyway, I've got everything set up for the big finish tonight. You're still on for it, right? Not backing out?"

"Not a chance," Cody said with an evil grin. "I'll be ready."

"That's my boy," Carey told him as she patted his shoulder. "I'd better get ready and not go to work for a change. It'll be nice to sit at one of the tables I always look at and listen to someone else sing."

"We're evil, Mom."

"I know, honey," she said with a smirk. "I know."

An hour after Carey was gone for the evening, the twins were on the couch with the television rambling with neither boy watching it. Cody was sprawled across half of the couch in a caloric coma and counting down the time til he put the final part of the plan into motion while Zack was huddled on the other side with his knees brought up to his chest and stealing peeks at his brother every few minutes and hoping his brother wasn't about to sprout hair everywhere and try to eat him.

"You doing okay over there, Cody?" he asked after Cody shifted his position yet again.

"Sure am. I'm starting to get hungry again, though. Kind of weird, isn't it? I just ate a ton and it feels like I just took a little bite from a cookie." He sucked his gut in and patted it. "Sounds empty even though it shouldn't be."

"Should I call someone? A doctor? Room service, maybe?" Zack asked, looking over at his brother with wide eyes.

"No, I think I'm just going to take some aspirin and lay down for a little while. My bones hurt all of a sudden, like they're expanding or something."

"Are you sure I shouldn't call someone, Cody?"

"I'm fine, Zack, I promise. But if I still feel bad in a little while I'll have you call Mom, okay?"

"Yeah, okay," he said, wondering where he could get a suit of chain mail or a broadsword made of pure silver at this time of night. Just in case, of course.

Cody rolled himself off the couch and plodded to their room, taking care to exaggerate and punctuate every few steps with a moan. He wanted to fall face-first on his bed and sleep his huge meal off but he couldn't. Instead, he laid on his side and closed his eyes to slits, his gaze focused on their doorway and what he could see of the living room, and waited. It was almost time but not quite.

Ten minutes after Cody left the couch, Zack couldn't help himself any longer. He got up and tip-toed to the doorway and peered in. Cody saw him coming and started tossing and turning in his fake sleep. He flexed his fingers into claws and scraped one hand along the soft sheets of his bed. Zack didn't like what he saw and was a second away from backing out of the doorway when Cody set the last part of their plan into motion.

"Zack," he groaned, "I think you need to call Mom now. Something isn't right." Cody scratched at his arm with his claw-fingers. "I'm starting to itch everywhere."

"Are you? You can't be..."

"I don't know. Call her, Zack. Hurry."

"Right." Cody could hear the barely contained fear in his brother's voice and felt momentarily bad. The nice part of him screamed out to stop the charade, that Zack had been scared and punished enough already, but Cody ignored it. He snorted into the sheets once he heard Zack talking into the phone.

"Something's wrong with Cody, Mom!" he heard his brother say. After listening for a few seconds, he spoke again. "I don't know! He just said he feels terrible and his bones hurt. You need to get up here!" Cody saw him listen again and nod before hanging up the phone and return to their room. "She said she'll be right here, Cody. Is there, um, anything I can do for you?"

Cody had pulled the sheet up over nearly all of his body, leaving only a slit to see through. "Can you turn off the light? It's hurting my eyes."

"Yeah, sure," Zack told him as his hand slowly moved to the light switch. His fingers paused on it as he considered if it was a wise thing to do.

"Zack, please," Cody whined and Zack flipped it, the hand stealthily dropping to the doorknob in case he had to close it quickly.

8

Carey grinned as ended the call. She finished her drink and set the glass on the counter. She'd been sitting on one of the high chairs at the end of the bar discussing the devious plan with the bartender while waiting for the call to come.

"I mean, yeah, it's mean but he picks on Cody so much."

"Ultimate payback, right?" the bartender said with a laugh.

"I hope so. I'm sure he won't stop but maybe he'll think twice now that he knows that Cody isn't the helpless patsy anymore."

"Let me know how it goes when you come down tomorrow."

"Don't worry. I'll give you all the details," Carey told him as she left a five on the bar. She grabbed her purse and sauntered to the elevator and punched the button for their floor, hoping that it would take long enough for the giggle fit she felt building to pass before she arrived.

Zack had the door to the suite flung open before she could even get her key all the way in the lock and hit her with a buzzsaw of words and a crushing hug. Carey pried his arms off and told him to slow down.

"I think he's really doing it, Mom. He's wolfing out!"

"Oh that's ridiculous," she told him. "It's probably just the flu or something." She did her best to inflect a little worry into her voice.

"But the doctor said-"

"Zack, just calm down. I'll go check on him and if we need to call the doctor, we will." She tossed her purse on the couch and kicked her heels off in one fluid motion as she strode to the boys' room. "Cody?"

"Mom? Close the door, the light hurts my eyes."

"Okay, honey." Carey looked back at Zack and was ready to put on a worried face to up the ante a little more but didn't need to. Her other son's eyes were already wide and he was wringing his hands. She stepped into the room and closed the door behind her.

"Ready?" Cody asked in a whisper as she went to his closet.

"Absolutely." They talked in low voices as Carey pulled her costume from behind all of Cody's shirts. "This looks pretty good, doesn't it?" she asked as she held the werewolf suit up and looked it over.

"It does. Hairy like Dad's back," he said as he ran his fingers through the fake fur.

"Don't remind me," she said and faked a shiver as she stepped into it and pulled it on. "Zip me up and we're ready to go." He did and handed her the mask. "I want to pull the sheet back and look at you," she said loud enough so it would carry through the door to Zack's ears.

"The light, Mom," Cody croaked as loudly as he could. Zack was probably right outside the door but he had to make sure.

"It's dark, honey. Just for a second." She waited a three count before she spoke again. "Jeez, Cody, you look like...it's everywhere!" she was sure she heard a gasp from outside the room. Cody growled as deeply as he could while she pushed everything off his night stand before moving to the door. "Cody! No!"

Carey channeled childbirth and unleashed a scream and grunt as Cody threw a book on the floor. Her hand slipped off the knob the first time she grabbed at it and she cursed the suit's gloves. She threw the door open on the second try, just as Zack uttered a frightened "Mom?"

She leaped into the hallway at him and he screamed, trying to turn around and run at the same time. He bounced off the wall and yelled again as she reached out for him with ridiculous snarling sounds and painted, bloody nails.

"Cody! No, please!" he begged as he backpedaled into the living room, eyes darting from side to side as Carey advanced on him. Zack reached the couch before his feet tangled and he went down in a heap behind it. "No!" he wailed as she stood over him, arms crossing over his face defensively.

Carey lunged at him and Zack uttered what he figured would be his death scream as her hands reached his sides. Instead of the feeling of being ripped to shreds he felt the werewolf's fingers tickling his ribs. Incongruity overwhelmed him as his mind tried to understand what was going on. Carey's fingers kept at it and his fright turned to laughter as she found his sweet spots. "Boo, Zack," she laughed once he was out of breath. She pulled the mask up and winked at him.

"What?" he said once he could speak. "Mom?" he looked past her and saw Cody standing in the hallway positively shaking with mirth.

"Oh man, Zack, I wish that was on video so you could see your face!" Cody said as he joined them. He pantomimed Zack's earlier expressions before dissolving into brays of laughter.

"You planned this out," Zack said accusingly.

"Yes we did. We decided that you deserved a bit of your own medicine."

"And it was _sooooo_ worth it." Cody told him as he sat down at their sides and wiped a tear from his eye. "Cody, no!" he said and laughed again.

"You guys suck," Zack informed them as he sat up and crossed his arms over his chest.

_I needed a little zombie break and this story screamed to be rewritten since I hadn't touched it in almost five years. Hope you enjoyed it and Happy Halloween!_


End file.
